Nitrogen vacancies cobalt nitride and its loading Pt electrocatalysts for efficient overall water splitting

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2025.01.005

Abstract

Abstract: Anion exchange membrane electrolysis (AEMWE) is currently a promising technology to produce hydrogen from water. Developing the highly intrinsic activity of electrodes is extremely important. In this paper, nitrogen vacancies-rich cobalt nitride (Co₄N-V_N) is used as the anode catalyst of the urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and its loading Pt (Pt@Co₄N-V_N) acted as the cathode of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The introduction of N-vacancies gained the electron-deficient Co₄N more favorable for the UOR process. Meanwhile, the electron transfer between the Co₄N-V_N carrier and Pt can enhance the intrinsic HER activity of loaded Pt. Specifically, in the 0.33 M urea and 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, the UOR potential of CO₄N-V_N is only 1.58 V at the current density of 300.0 mA cm^-2, which is much lower than that of Co₄ N and Co₃O₄. At the same time, the HER overpotential at 1.0 M KOH and 300.0 mA cm^-2 is only 120.0 mV, lower than 20 wt% Pt/C. By measuring the bode phase diagram, the presence of N-vacancies can accelerate the electron transfer rate of catalysts to improve the UOR and HER electrocatalytic activity. The overall water-splitting device featuring Pt@Co₄N-V_N||Co₄N-V_N electrodes achieves a voltage of 2.99 V at a current density of 300.0 mA cm^-2.

Key words: Cobalt nitride, Vacancy, Urea oxidation reaction, Hydrogen evolution reaction, Overall water splitting

Yujie Luan, Xiaolin Yan, Chengwei Ji, Changpeng Lv, Di Lan, Siyuan Zhang, Jin Sun, Daohao Li, Guanglei Wu. Nitrogen vacancies cobalt nitride and its loading Pt electrocatalysts for efficient overall water splitting[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2025, 228: 279-286.

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